Ruthless Hanover knows a thing or two about rocking the clock, and the speedball from the Tom Cancelliere barn had his blazing pace on display in the feature on Saturday, Sept. 7 at The Meadowlands while winning the $40,540 Winners Over.
The last time the seven-year-old gelded son of Somebeachsomewhere-Rockaroundthetrack raced was at Pocono Downs on Aug. 17, and Ruthless Hanover had an electrifying performance, going parked past the half on the way to a 1:48 win in a $100,000 invitational on Sun Stakes Saturday.
The owner of a 1:46.3 lifetime best, which was registered last year at Harrah’s Philadelphia, Ruthless Hanover stopped the clock Saturday at The Big M in 1:47.2, after cutting out fractions of :26.1, :54.2 and 1:20.4.
Driver Andy Miller backed down the pace some after the quarter, which likely helped in withstanding a minor challenge late from Mirage Hanover, who rallied well after going a three-hole trip before tipping off the rail at the head of the stretch.
“He felt super; really good,” said Miller of Ruthless Hanover. “He just cruised around there. When that horse [Mirage Hanover] come to him, he dug right in and fought him off.
“I got roughed up pretty good that first quarter there, so I wanted to give him a little breather that second quarter and we took off from there. [In the stretch] he felt super. He’s a complete professional. He does everything you ask of him.”
Ruthless Hanover paid $3.20 to win as the 3-5 favourite as he upped his lifetime stats to 26 wins from 61 starts, good for earnings of $793,284 for owner John Cancelliere. He hit the wire three-quarters-of-a-length in front of Mirage Hanover. Chimichurri N, the winner of the feature last week, finished third.
A LITTLE MORE: Bruce Baker, a member of the Meadowlands Amateur Driving Club, Brad Chisholm, Jason Bartlett and Miller all tied atop the driver leaderboard with two winners apiece. … Jeff Cullipher was the top trainer with two walks down victory lane. … All-source handle on the 14-race card totaled $2,376,282. … Live harness racing will now take a five-week break before returning on Friday, Oct. 18 with a special day card featuring Breeders Crown eliminations. Post time is 12:30 p.m. … After one week of no live racing, Thoroughbred turf action comes to The Big M on Friday, Sept. 20, with racing every Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. … Oct. 18 marks the final card for the “runners” on a day that will see live harness by day and live turf racing at night.
(Meadowlands)